Fahrenheit 451 is a 2018 American dystopian drama film written and directed by Ramin Bahrani, based on the book of the same name by Ray Bradbury. It stars Michael B. Jordan, Michael Shannon, Sofia Boutella, Lilly Singh, Grace Lynn Kung and Martin Donovan. Set in a future America, the film follows a "fireman" whose job it is to burn now-illegal books, only to question society after meeting a young woman. After premiering at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, the film aired on HBO on May 19, 2018.
Video Fahrenheit 451 (2018 film)
Plot
In the future, after a second civil war, most reading in America is confined to the Internet, called "the 9," and most books are banned (except for emoji versions of The Bible, To the Lighthouse and Moby Dick) and ordered to be burned by the "firemen" who are part of the Ministry, an authoritarian dictatorship that blames unhappiness, mental illness, and conflicting opinions on reading the "wrong" literature. Guy Montag, a firefighter living in Cleveland, goes about his work without question, believing that by following in his father's footsteps he is serving and protecting society. All this changes when he meets an informant named Clarisse, who makes him challenge his actions and convictions by sharing with him some of the real history of America and the rise of the Ministry. When he finally decides to rebel and understand how the "Eels" (book-reading outcasts) read, he comes to a realization--he now wants to read as well. Montag decides to help a rebel who has a plan to reproduce their information through animals. This rebel group encoded books into a bird's DNA so that it can live on and survive the efforts of the firemen.
Montag is confronted by Captain Beatty and finds himself on the run, eventually connecting with a group of Eels. The Eels' house is discovered by the firemen; Montag finds the bird and places a transponder inside it so that it can find its way to scientists in Canada. Captain Beatty confronts him and attempts to stop him, but allows the bird to fly away. After Montag releases the bird, Beatty burns him alive in a fit of rage. The starling makes it to Canada, and joins with an immense flock of other starlings.
Maps Fahrenheit 451 (2018 film)
Cast
- Michael B. Jordan as Guy Montag
- Michael Shannon as Captain John Beatty
- Sofia Boutella as Clarisse McClellan
- Khandi Alexander as Toni Morrison
- Lilly Singh as Raven
- Martin Donovan as Commissioner Nyari
- Andy McQueen as Gustavo
- Dylan Taylor as Douglas
- Grace Lynn Kung as Chairman Mao
- Keir Dullea as Historian
Production
Ramin Bahrani had been developing an adaptation of Bradbury's novel as early as June 2016. In April 2017, Michael Shannon and Michael B. Jordan were cast in the film, with Jordan also assuming an executive producer role. In June, Sofia Boutella boarded the project, YouTube personality Lilly Singh was cast as a vlogger, and Laura Harrier was cast as Millie, Montag's wife. Filming began in July 2017, with the additions of Martin Donovan, Andy McQueen and Grace Lynn Kung to the cast in August.
Release
On January 11, 2018, HBO's Twitter account released a trailer for the film, featuring the tagline, "Fact. Fiction. It all burns." The film was released on May 19, 2018, after premiering at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
Reception
The film has received negative to mixed reviews. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 35% based on 66 reviews, and an average rating of 5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Fahrenheit 451 fails to burn as brightly as its classic source material, opting for slickly mundane smoke-blowing over hard-hitting topical edge." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a score of 47 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
For IndieWire, Ben Travers gave the film a grade of "C+", writing that "Michael B. Jordan and Michael Shannon make for a compelling pair in an aptly modernized update that still feels far too conventional." Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter praised the production value but wrote that "as disturbing as the forecast for American life and politics may be in Fahrenheit 451, this wrinkle nonetheless serves to seriously diminish the absolute need to preserve texts when they're known to still exist elsewhere; when America gets its head on straight again, there is backup to resupply the intellectually deprived."
In his review for Rogerebert.com, Odie Henderson noted the steering of Bradbury's ideas into the factual realm, drawing parallels with the satirical direction of Network being weakened by the evolution of television, adding that "much of the novel's shock value and allegorical power also feels weakened as a result."
References
External links
- Fahrenheit 451 on IMDb
- [3] Why 'Fahrenheit 451' Is the Book for Our Social Media Age-article written by the director on NY Times
- Official trailer on YouTube
Source of article : Wikipedia
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